Lesbian Exclusive Exchange

We wanted to repost this article from Examiner.com as we were thrilled when we heard this news last week!  Go Janet!

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano announced that DHS will henceforth take into consideration LGBT relationships when making deportation decisions. This means that same-sex couples will no longer necessarily be split apart if one is undocumented. The decision comes as a clarification to the Obama administration’s ongoing policy of prosecutorial discretion in regards to the deportation of undocumented immigrants. This policy empowers prosecutors to consider an individual’s ties to his or her community, including relationships, in making decisions about who to deport from the country. Napolitano’s announcement enables prosecutors to now consider same-sex relationships as equal to heterosexual relationships in making these decisions.

Napolitanos’s announcement represents a victory for many in both the immigrant and queer rights communities who have long fought to have same-sex relationships validated under U.S. immigration law. Up until now, many long term same sex couples have been forcefully separated by current deportation policy, while married heterosexual couples have the ability to apply to remain in this country legally.

In part because of this shared goal, the queer and immigrant rights movements have recently grown together in their support of one another in this country, with many activists calling for an even greater alliance of the two movements. In 2010, after the passage of SB 1070 in Arizona, for example, more than 20 LGBT groups combined forces to condemn the law. Earlier this month, immigrant rights group OneAmerica made headlines when its board made the somewhat contentious decision to officially support gay marriage. Positioning the issue as one of civil rights, OneAmerica’s board unanimously agreed that the organization’s own civil rights struggles place it in a position to stand in solidarity with the LGBT rights movement.

Although Napolitano’s statement represents a step forward for those fighting for the civil rights of queer individuals and immigrants in this country, it is not necessarily a game changer. First, it has been part of the policy of prosecutorial discretion since its beginning that same sex couples are not targeted for deportation. Napolitano’s announcement merely made the policy official. Second, by its very definition, prosecutorial discretion merely gives prosecutors the option of taking same-sex relationships into consideration. It does not necessarily provide same-sex couples the legal right to petition for legal residency. That is, the policy is certainly a positive move toward equal rights for LGBT immigrants, but it falls short of true comprehensive reform to U.S. immigration law and deportation policy that would ensure the legal rights of these individuals.

Share this post

Comments

Search RSS

rubY  - Great News   |Registered |2013-01-14 05:11:10 tx for passing it along

Only registered users can write comments!

3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."